This post continues looking at the spiritual challenges of those at the 5th subplane of the Mental Plane. This post discovers how the Chela in the Light discovers the “service group” that he or she is meant to be a part of, how group work at a soul level begins, how knowledge needs to change into wisdom, the importance of having something tangible to contribute to a group, and how hierarchy needs to looked at not as a way to dominate others, but as a way to become more inclusive.
CHAPTER TEN: GROUP SEVEN, Chela in the Light, Part Five
GENERAL CHARACTERISTICS, cont.
DISCOVERING YOUR SERVICE GROUP
As the Chela becomes more and more oriented towards his or her Soul, he or she feels increasingly pulled towards some form of service. The service activity is different from something that simply helps one makes a living, or allows one to become a major success in the world (which is something those in Groups 4, 5, and 6 participate in). Rather the service activity is meant to use the full talents of the individual to benefit others and make a true contribution to the overall world. The kind of service the Chela enters into depend upon his or her unique combination of attributes. In the Alice Bailey model the Chela can learn about what these may be according to what is known as his or her Ray Type. For example, Ray Type One of Will, Purpose, Power will usually gravitate towards leadership positions and areas such as politics where he or she can influence a great many others. Ray Type Two of Love and Wisdom tends to enter the counseling, healing, educational, and teaching professions. Ray Type Three of Intelligent Activity often enters the realms of philosophy or even business and finance. Ray Type Four of Harmony Through Conflict may gravitate to the creative arts or to vocations that require Conflict Resolution. Ray Type Five of Science and Knowledge usually goes into the fields of science and technology. Ray Type Six of Idealism and Religion may go into religion or fields where he or she can motivate and inspire others. Ray Type Seven or Ceremony and Law and Order may want to become an organizer of some kind, or move into the legal profession. Of course there are many more fields than those listed here. And, to let you know every person is said to have more than one type, and can even have up to five in combination. So, there are a number of factors that will determine what vocation or service activity might best fit one’s true soul purpose.
After the individual becomes more clear about his or her service activity, Bailey indicates that the Chela in the Light expands upon the idea of group consciousness that was started during Little Chelaship in the Probationary stage (remember that Probationary stage continues in the Chela in the Light phase). Only here the idea of group consciousness branches out into the direction of contacting the “ashram” (as Bailey calls it) in which the Chela belongs. The word ashram is actually an Eastern word that often refers to members of a spiritual community. For the Chela in the Light, an ashram is not a place for spiritual training. In Bailey’s use of the word, one has accomplished most of their individual spiritual training during the stage of Little Chelaship and as a Probationary Disciple. Rather, Bailey sees an ashram more as a service group attempting to expand the consciousness of humanity along some line. In fact, only as the Chela demonstrates the capacity to serve humanity in some form in cooperation with others, can the Chela in the Light move from what is known as the periphery of the ashram and penetrate more deeply within it.
As the Chela in the Light demonstrates that he or she is more capable of selfless service, Bailey suggests it becomes important for the Chela to know three things. 1) Who and where are those who are similar to you that you can link with to expand your service activity? 2) Who and where are those who you are meant to serve and how do you reach them? 3) Who and where are those you are still meant to learn from (spiritual teachers, gurus, lamas, masters) so that you can continue to evolve spiritually and in turn become more effective in your service? In answering these three questions the Chela is not jus looking for those who exist in the physical world, but in the non—physical realms, attempting to contact them all primarily through meditation and telepathic rapport at first. What do I mean by this?
As an example I will talk about my writing of this very book. For starters, this book began when I received the “telepathic impression” to do a book making the Bailey model more simple to understand. My experience of this was simply registering the concept in my brain. The impression to do the book fit my “ray type” since I see myself as primarily a Ray Two type that is involved in mainly teaching and counseling. I had also spent a number of years learning the Bailey method, so this telepathic impression resonated as something I would be qualified to do as a service activity. Had the impression been something else, like start a new financial economic system that helps PayPal and Bitcoin to go a step further, it would not have resonated with me because: a) I have no interest in Ray Three type fields of finance; 2) I have no skill in these fields. Therefore I would have known to let that telepathic impression go because metaphorically speaking it was not something my “ashramic group” was working on.
Rather, my “ashram” is more connected to teaching about the evolution of consciousness. Through meditation and seeming “coincidences” experienced out of meditation, I was led so to speak to “contact” others in my “ashram” who seemed interested in various models of the evolution of consciousness like Alice Bailey, Ken Wilber, Sri Aurobindo, those connected to the Ageless Wisdom teachings, Theosophy, Psychosynthesis, Integral, and others. But, let me clarify this kind of “contact.” For example, Alice Bailey, Ken Wilber, Sri Aurobindo, Robert Assagioli are all spiritual teachers of mine. Yet I have never met any of them in person and only one, Ken Wilber is still alive in a physical body. How do I contact these individuals then? One obvious way is to read their books. But, I can also use telepathic rapport. For example, when I read the books of Bailey, Wilber, or Aurobindo and get stuck on a concept, I can meditate and attempt to come into “telepathic rapport” with what they might have meant in regards to an underlying concept they are presenting.
Notice the lack of glamour in what I just explained. It does not involve an “astral light” notion of trying to channel them, or rashly making claims that they are talking through me. This would have more emotional appeal perhaps, but if I am setting aside the focus of a concentrated mind in an attempt to more deeply comprehend what these individuals are teaching, I am more likely to distort their teachings,. And, I am more likely to build thought-forms (my own written words) that will be far more likely to inaccurately convey what these authors are actually intending to say. Note, working more as a Chela in the Light on the higher levels of the Mental Plane doesn’t mean that distortion of their ideas won’t exist. It still can. But, the Aspirant and Probationary Disciple (who both make up the Little Chelaship stage), will be way less likely to admit to their mistakes since they are more invested in looking good and being infallible, than the Chela in the Light (or especially the next stage of Accepted Disciple) is likely to engage in.
Shifting to another way to use telepathic rapport, it can be used to help me locate co-workers who will more readily grasp what I am saying in this book and help me add to or correct the ideas here. And, it can be used to help me find the many students who will be inspired by my writings. How do I go about this? Again, I sit down and meditate. As I meditate the names of people may come into my mind “all of a sudden” who might be a co-worker or student. Or, I may “accidently” run into information on a group doing work similar to mine later that day on the Internet and feel inspired to contact them. Or, people may “accidentally” run into my other work on the Internet and suddenly send me an email asking me if I have anything new I am working on regarding the evolution of consciousness? Or, someone I don’t even know may have heard about my efforts on this book from someone who did know me, and that someone who I don’t know may decide to send me a book in the mail related to the topic I am working on. Or, seemingly more remarkable, I may be sitting in a coffee shop taking a break and “suddenly” run into someone who has a significant piece to contribute in the way of my ideas, writing, or even marketing of this book. All of these are examples of getting into “telepathic contact” with others who are part of my “ashram” or service group. And, here is Bailey’s point, the more you meditate on your ashram or service group, the more these seeming “coincidences” will show up to help you. The dilemma is to not make too much of a fuss about it, which the Chela would do if he or she got caught up in the “astral” light more than the Soul light. Rather, the Chela in the Light focuses on the gift that is given from such coincidences and simply uses them to further advance the opportunity to serve in connection with others.
HAVING SOMETHING TANGIBLE TO GIVE YOUR GROUP
In Bailey’s book Letters on Occult Meditation she states three “objects” or lessons that the Probationer Disciple is expected to learn before becoming what she calls an Accepted Disciple. Since the Probationer stage overlaps with the Chela in the Light stage, and the Chela in the Light stage takes place just before the Accepted Discipleship stage, I have put these three “objects” here. One object I just mentioned which is contacting your ashram or service group. Another is being sure you have something to give when that group is contacted. Again the Chela in the Light is attempting to shift out of focusing on his or her spiritual development as the major focus of one’s life. Ideally, enough work on one’s spiritual development has happened that one need not focus on it too much. Now the test is to see how much you are spiritually developed by having it tested through the disciplines of group work. After all it is easy to be spiritually developed when no one is there to challenge it. Also at this level the focus is not what you can get, but what you can give to others. Bailey says, “Think upon this: too much emphasis is laid at times upon that which the pupil will get when he becomes an accepted disciple or probationer. I tell you here, in all earnestness, that he will not take these desired steps until he has somewhat to give, and something to add that will increase the beauty of the group” (Letters on Occult Meditation, pp. 269—270). She goes on to say, “He must show that his one desire is to be a benefactor and to serve, rather than to grasp and acquire for himself. This life of acquisition for the purposes of giving must have for incentive the ideals touched in meditation, and for inspiration those downpourings from the higher mental levels and from the buddhic levels which are the result of occult meditation” (Letters on Occult Meditation, pp. 270).
Getting to these higher levels is the third object of the Probationer and Chela in the Light who is attempting to increasingly tap into the higher levels of the Mental Plane and even to some degree the Buddhic Plane. For the Chela in the Light this contact is not at all consistent. Bailey states it happens in rare intervals at first but, “then he will relax, drop back and lose the contact. His bodies are not refined enough and his vibration is too unstable to hold it long. But, as time progresses (longer or shorter according to the earnestness of the pupil) the frequency of the times of contact increases; he can hold the vibration somewhat longer, and does not relax back to normal with so much ease. Then the time comes when he can be trusted to hold the contact fairly stably.” (Letters on Occult Meditation, pp. 267 – 268). In a sense then the Chela has the light of the Soul (found on the higher levels of the Mental Plane) go on and off. The Chela in the Light gets glimpses and is able to be more steady than the Little Chela (Aspirant and Probationer), but is not yet able to always remain steady in that light., meaning the Chela in the Light can still easily get off track.
LEARNING TO VALUE HIERARCHY OR “HOLARCHY”
One of the ways the Chela and the Light can still get off track is by not being able to discern who is an equal, who is someone he or she is meant to serve, and who is someone that they are meant to learn and be guided by in regards to service. If you remember one of the things the Little Chelaship stage of Aspirant and Probationer Disciple is prone to is mushing everyone together in a sense of “Oneness” without any real discernment as to what people’s real gifts and stage of spiritual evolution really is. Even the idea of people being less far along or farther along than others can make them reactive. The Chela in the Light is not as reactive to this notion of hierarchy, or “holarchy” as we spoke about it before, but the Chela in the Light is prone to make mistakes. One major mistake when attempting group work is assuming that he or she is much further along the path than he or she really is. That means the Chela in the Light can lack humility and enough discernment causing them to repulse those from their service work who have something important to give them. The Chela can also till too easily succumb to glamour and set him or herself up in an egotistic manner above others causing the Chela to become overly inflated causing those in the group they work with to become uncomfortable with them or even rebel against them.
Also, the Chela in the Light can assume that some of those they gather around them to help are farther along than they are. Others are given responsibilities they can’t really handle, or inflate their true spiritual status and unwittingly drag the entire service activity down. Finally, under the notion of “equality” the Chela may develop an aversion to the idea of “hierarchy.” The Chela can’t see the underlying arrogance, ignorance, and even laziness that underlies this assertion. Bailey puts it this way, “An interesting question can he asked at this point and one which should unquestionably arise: Is the group of working disciples to be keyed to the note of the more advanced disciples in the group or is it to be stepped down to a generally lower average to suit the least advanced? Let us put it in another form: Are the least evolved in a group of disciples and aspirants to pull down to their level of work and understanding the more developed? Will they make a supreme effort to measure up to the higher vision and attain to the attitudes and points of view of the more advanced? These questions prove a fundamental problem in all Ashrams and only the chelas themselves can provide the answer” (Discipleship in the New Age, Volume I, pp. 725 –726 ).
To put the above another way, the Chela in the Light has the responsibility to understand the value of hierarchy, which we have talked about in previous chapters, by recognizing that there are different levels of consciousness. Healthy hierarchies are not oppressive. Rather, they expand upon and include all the levels below. As the Chela in the Light gains in humility he or she is then able to discern distinctions in oneself and others for the purpose of helping them. Also, the Chela in the Light is able to become more open to being helped, which again requires a willingness to recognize those who may be more advanced than oneself. After all, no matter who we are, or how advanced we seem, there is always a next step and someone or some Being who can help us move onto that next step. Remember the Chela in the Light may get sidetracked and set him or herself up as prematurely enlightened, when in truth he or she is englamoured and has a long ways to go. Humility, acknowledgment of hierarchy, a purer motive, and a ceaseless attempt to become free from glamour all help to mitigate the temptation to become inflated overall.
Copyright © 2019 by Lisa Love. All rights reserved. No part of this blog may be reproduced or transmitted in any form, or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopy, recording, computer, or any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the author.
Soul to Spirit: The New Spiritual Psychology 
Leave a Reply